Pregnant teens seek small babies, so they smoke

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint of the UK has some very unsettling news regarding pregnant teenagers over there. In an effort to ease the pain of birth, expectant teens are taking up smoking to have smaller babies. If this sounds like one of the worst things you’ve ever heard, then you are not alone.

The myth of small children being less painful to birth has some teenagers going to extreme and fatal lengths to try and produce a child that would be significantly more unhealthy than babies born from non-smoking mothers. As I’m sure any mother could tell you, this is preposterous. Having a smaller baby is no less painful than a larger one. Are they even thinking about the potential of losing the child altogether?

Apparently not, because the article cites research stating that smoking while pregnant raises the chance of a miscarriage or stillbirth by 26 percent. By all conventional thinking, there are a thousand reasons to kick the habit while women are expecting (or not pick it up at all). Let’s hope they realize this before it is too late.

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